DETAILED ACTION
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
2. The specification, the abstract and the drawings are all acceptable.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
3. The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
4. Claims 1-3, 5, 7, 10-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by USPN 11,431,274 to Okubo.
As to claim 1, Okubo teaches a method for driving an assist motor of a power steering system intended to be on board a vehicle(col. 1: lines 19-24, col. 3: lines 20-23), the assist motor comprising: a first three-phase winding(fig. 1: “M - motor” has a first three-phase winding), electrically powered by a first inverter(fig. 1: “10a”), the first inverter (fig. 1: “10a”) comprising at least three electrical lines connecting a power supply (fig. 1: “12 - battery”) to an electrical ground(fig. 1: “GND”), each electrical line being provided with at least one power supply-side switching cell(fig. 1: “2a, 2b”), electrically connected to the power supply (fig. 1: “12 - battery”) and with at least one ground-side switching cell(fig. 1: “1a, 1b”), electrically connected to the electrical ground(fig. 1: “GND”), and at least one second three-phase winding(fig. 1: “A, B, C”), electrically powered by a second inverter (fig. 1: “10b”) different from the first inverter, the first winding and the at least one second winding being mechanically coupled together(fig. 1: “A, B, C”), wherein it comprises, when a short-circuit type failure is detected between a phase of the first winding and the power supply or the electrical ground(col. 12: lines 65 – col. 13: lines 3); a step of determining the switching cell directly affected by the failure, a step of measuring at least one parameter of the first inverter, and a step of triggering a control step when the at least one parameter reaches a trigger threshold, at least one of the switching cells of the first inverter positioned on the same side as the switching cell directly affected by the failure, and on one of the at least two other electrical lines, being put in the closed position for a holding time during the control step(col. 13: lines 4 – col. 14: lines 67 wherein apparatus and method are taught for detecting short-circuit failures occurring in the exact location of the switching cells of the inverters).
As to claim 2, Okubo teaches the driving method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one measured parameter is chosen from: a voltage of at least one phase of the first winding or of the at least one second winding(col. 10: lines 6-15), a power supply voltage of the first inverter or of the second inverter, an electrical angle of the first winding or of the at least one second winding, and an intensity of at least one phase of the first winding or of the at least one second winding(col. 10: lines 6-21).
As to claim 3, Okubo teaches the driving method according to claim 1, wherein the trigger threshold depends on the switching cell directly affected by the failure (col. 9: lines 50-59) and/or on a direction of rotation of the first winding.
As to claim 5, Okubo teaches the driving method according to claim 1, wherein the holding time is a fixed predetermined value(col. 15: lines 31-38).
As to claim 7, Okubo teaches the driving method according to claim 1, wherein the measured parameter is an intensity of at least one phase of the first winding, the measurement being carried out by means of at least one shunt positioned directly on the at least one phase(col. 16: lines 51-65 wherein a method is taught for current/intensity detection for the power steering motor control system).
As to claim 10, Okubo teaches A computer program product wherein it includes a set of program code instructions which, when executed by one or several processors(fig. 1: “15” is a processor), configure the processor(s) to implement the method according to claim 1.
As to claim 11 Okubo teaches a vehicle comprising a power steering system comprising an assist motor(col. 1: lines 19-24, col. 3: lines 20-23), the assist motor comprising: a first three-phase winding(fig. 1: “M - motor” has a first three-phase winding), electrically powered by a first inverter(fig. 1: “10a”), the first inverter (fig. 1: “10a”) comprising at least three electrical lines connecting a power supply (fig. 1: “12 - battery”) to an electrical ground(fig. 1: “GND”), each electrical line being provided with at least one power supply-side switching cell(fig. 1: “2a, 2b”), electrically connected to the power supply(fig. 1: “12 - battery”) and with at least one ground-side switching cell(fig. 1: “1a, 1b”), electrically connected to the electrical ground(fig. 1: “GND”), and at least one three-phase second winding, electrically powered by a second inverter (fig. 1: “10b”) different from the first inverter(fig. 1: “10a”), the first winding and the at least one second winding being mechanically coupled together(fig. 1: “A, B, C”), wherein the power steering system (col. 1: lines 19-24) implements the method according to claim 1.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
5. The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
6. Claims 4, 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over USPN 11,431,274 to Okubo, and in view of USPN 10,326,385 to Ichikawa.
As to claim 4, Okubo teaches the driving method according to claim 1.
Okubo does not teach a method wherein the holding time corresponds to the time required for the first winding to rotate by a predetermined electrical angle.
Ichikawa teaches a method wherein the holding time corresponds to the time required for the first winding to rotate by a predetermined electrical angle(col. 10: lines 41-56 & lines 20-26).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the
effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the teachings of Ichikawa into Okubo since Okubo suggests a motor control system and Ichikawa suggests the beneficial use of timing for a winding to rotate by a predetermined electrical angle in the analogous art of motor control technology.
The motivation for this comes from the fact that Ichikawa teaches a method of timing for a winding to rotate by a predetermined electrical angle which can be used to improve the motor control system disclosed by Okubo
As to claim 9, Okubo in view of Ichikawa teaches the driving method according to claim 1, comprising a step of activating the control step when a rotational speed or a rotational frequency of the assist motor reaches an activation threshold(Ichikawa col. 9: lines 65 – col. 10: lines 6).
Allowable Subject Matter
7. Claims 6, 8 are objected to as being dependent upon the rejected base claim 1, but could be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claims and any intervening claims for the following reasons: No prior art of record discloses the features as claimed in the noted claims.
8. The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter. The non-obvious features are:
In comparison with the closest prior art as cited in this Office action and any previous Office actions, no prior art of record discloses the following features as claimed in the following claim limitations:
As per claim 6: The holding time corresponds to a control period of the first inverter reduced by a time for carrying out the measurement step and the trigger step.
As per claim 8: The holding time corresponds to the time during which the intensity of the at least one phase of the first winding reaches a holding threshold.
Conclusion
9. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
USPN 9,806,648 to Sugiura discloses a motor control system.
10. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DAVID S LUO whose telephone number is (571)270-5251. The examiner can normally be reached 8AM-5PM.
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/DAVID LUO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2846
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